Good news

Dateline: Mon 28 Jan 2013

for Indianapolis commuters who work in Carmel. They will now be able to hop on a bus and head straight North to get to select workplaces. This courtesy is brought you by your federal government (who else?)

Truly, you know you're not big city when in order to go North, you often have to go South to Downtown first, then transfer to a Northbound bus.

Here is the press release, under the heading:

"Transportation service for Indy residents working in Hamilton County to change"

INDIANAPOLIS -- A Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority (CIRTA) service that provides public transportation connecting Indianapolis with employers in Carmel and Fishers will undergo route and schedule changes on Feb. 4.

Funded through a federal Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) grant, the Indy Express Bus reverse commute service originates downtown at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Ohio streets and heads to the park-and-ride lot at the Carmel Meijer and the park-and-ride lot at 106th and Lantern Road in Fishers. At the park-and-ride lots, riders transfer to shuttles that transport them to more than two dozen Hamilton County destinations. The service started in April 2012.

On Feb. 4, new shuttle stops will be added to provide access to more north-side employers. Some current stops will be moved to higher-visibility street-side locations. Stops that have experienced low levels of use during the first eight months of the service will be consolidated or eliminated. The Fishers North and South shuttle routes will be combined into to a single Fishers shuttle route. The Carmel North and South shuttle routes will also be combined, creating a single Carmel shuttle route.

The new Carmel and Fishers shuttle routes will be extended to provide connectivity to IndyGo's system of fixed-route bus lines. Passengers will gain the option of riding IndyGo's Route 18 (Nora) to connect to the Carmel shuttle at 86th and Guilford, or IndyGo's Route 19 (Castleton) to connect to the Fishers shuttle at Community Hospital North. Currently, passengers must board the Express Bus from downtown to Carmel or Fishers. On Feb. 4, passengers will be able to transfer to the shuttles from both IndyGo and Indy Express Bus. Frequency on both shuttle routes will be increased.

The service provides transportation to many large employers, including Sallie Mae, Roche, IU Health North Hospital, St. Vincent Carmel Hospital, St. Vincent Health, Adesa, The Capital Group, Clay Terrace Mall and Allied Solutions.

"These changes should make riding more desirable because passengers won't necessarily have to go downtown before heading to Carmel or Fishers. They'll be able to connect via an IndyGo route on the northside," said Christy Campoll, CIRTA's mobility manager. "The redesigned shuttle routes will maximize ridership and efficiency by providing more frequent access to locations where there is high demand and jobs."

The fare to ride Indy Express Bus reverse commute service to Fishers and Carmel is $3 per trip, or $1 with a validated (date-stamped) IndyGo pass. The shuttle routes are fare-free.

The schedule for Indy Express Bus service for in-bound commuters will not be affected by the changes to the reverse commute service.

The new shuttle routes and schedules are available online atwww.indyexpressbus.com and via phone at 317-327-RIDE.

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Comments

hendy [Member] said:

I hope someone takes advantage of it. I wonder if there's parking near the pickup sites in both places.